The AM Fan Club in golden shirts were in their rollicking element on Vodafone Arena yesterday. First, Alicia Molik woke from a sleepy start and surged into the third round of the women’s singles and then Andy Murray arrived to repeat method and outcome in the men’s championship. In both cases, the support lapped it up and in both came affirmation of burgeoning grand-slam tournament aspirations.

Molik has much to live up to, for it has been an interminable wait since the vintage of Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley and the unheralded Chris O’Neil, who was the last Australian winner of the Open, in 1978. Murray has alighted with no such burdens.

However, two straight-set victories is a decisive accomplishment. The likelihood of Murray rolling over Fernando Verdasco with as much emphasis as he had Alberto Martín, his Spanish compatriot, in the first round was remote.

It should be remembered that Verdasco had been lucky to reach the second round, after Paul-Henri Mathieu, of France, rolled his ankle when leading by two sets and 3-0 in the third-set tie-break. Verdasco spent three hours at a local hospital commiserating with Mathieu, the gesture of a genuine sportsman.

By virtue of his 7-6, 7-5, 6-4 defeat by the British No 1, Verdasco had earned £12,500 without winning a set in two matches — which must be considered a novelty. The search for bigger prizes goes on for the Scot, starting tomorrow against Juan Ignacio Chela, the Argentinian who defeated him in the first round last year but whose greatest impact on this tournament came a year earlier when he spat at Lleyton Hewitt as he walked by his chair at a changeover. It promises to be a testy confrontation.

Murray should have nothing to fear if he can come out of the blocks a little more smoothly than he did against Verdasco. The first set involved six breaks of serve and turned midway through the tie-break when, having rubbed his eyes as if they were full of sleep, the Scot produced in successive points one flicked forehand cross-court winner, followed by a repeat from the opposite flank, having drawn Verdasco forward with a delicate short ball.

It was a match that was formed of irregular patches. In the middle of the second set, Murray won one of 14 points and was walking to the chair when Verdasco was in the midst of serving an ace, as if he was OK with throwing the set away. His response was to break twice and, when serving for a conclusive lead at 6-5, he watched a couple of Spanish errors fly out of court, adding a somewhat mocking “yeah, yeah” by way of confirmation.

From here, Murray obviously wanted to show his mettle and raced into a 4-1 lead in the third, but Verdasco sneaked his way back and, eventually, forced the Scot to sweat on four match points before a service winner — something he would love to bring to his game more regularly — confirmed his place in the last 32. “I feel like I can improve all parts of my game, but when my serve is on, it’s a pretty dangerous shot,” he said. “It’s more of a strength rather than a technique thing. The stronger I get, the better my serve will become.”

What comes as a revelation to Murray is how much his tennis is championed here, so far from home. It is possible the Australians are putting the names down for a Murray support group, with painted blue faces and white diagonal crosses as marks of admission. “I can’t believe so many people enjoy watching me play, because it [his style] is definitely not very interesting,” he said, breaking into a grin. The fact is that Murray playing the way he does demands converts. The more the merrier.

Back home, there is encouraging news of the knee injury that forced Tim Henman, the British No 2, to abandon this championship, only the second of 45 grand-slam tournaments he has missed. Although he confessed to “slow progress” with the right knee he hurt in training before Christmas, the news was more optimistic from his latest scan and he remains confident of returning to the tour in Zagreb the week after next.